House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is testing support for his idea to replace Medicare with a fixed payment to buy a private medical plan from a menu of coverage options.

Party leaders will determine if the so-called voucher plan will be part of the budget Republicans put forward in the spring.

"No decisions have been made on the details of our House GOP budget." Michael Steel, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Thursday. "There are a lot of ideas out there, and we're going to listen to our members and the American people."

Medicare was one of the most highly charged issues during last year's congressional elections, which put the House back in GOP control. Republicans slammed Democrats for cutting Medicare by about 6 percent over 10 years to finance President Barack Obama's health overhaul.

Bank of America Corp. intends to give some investment bankers a greater share of their bonuses in cash, the latest Wall Street compensation move roiling banking chieftains as they meet in Davos, Switzerland.

Last year the highest-paid bankers at the nation's largest bank by assets received as little as 5% of their payout in cash. Now bankers and traders making more than $5 million are getting as much as 30% of their 2010 compensation in cash and at least 70% in deferred stock, according to people familiar with the situation. Some could see a stock award of as much as 80% and 20% in cash.

Last year's level of cash was unusually low because the bank was restricted by federal pay rules as a condition of the $45 billion it received in U.S. aid.

"We feel that our pay practices are fair and appropriate for our employees and our shareholders," a spokesman said.

Still, multiple bankers gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos grumbled that Bank of America would increase the cash portion of bonuses—news that traveled fast once the bank's employees were told.

The Statesman Journal reports the complaints filed Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland accuse Countrywide of making false statements that inflated the prices of Countrywide's stock and bonds.

The state bought and sold shares of Countrywide stock and bonds from 2004 to March 2008. State officials said Countrywide claimed to deal in prime quality mortgage loans different from riskier loans by competitors when it was actually writing a higher volume of riskier loans.

Oregon opted out of a class-action settlement with Countrywide, which could have netted the state less than $500,000.

Goldman's move shows how banking has become so international that companies can sidestep the SEC's rules with ease. It also shows that the commission's rules regarding stock sales are crippling for U.S. investors.

Facebook will raise just as much capital, $1.5 billion, as was planned originally. The terms of the deal are also the same: Investors will still put up a minimum of $2 million and commit to hold the shares until 2013.

The deal won't hurt Goldman either—it will earn at least as much in fees and commissions as before. The reality is that investment banks like Goldman have been moving brokerage and banking business offshore for decades. They are well positioned in Asian and European capitals to continue to do so.

Schwab reported its net income fell to $119 million, or 10 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, down from $164 million, or 14 cents per share, a year ago.

Without the settlement charges disclosed last week, the San Francisco–based company said its profit rose 33 percent, to $218 million.

Revenue rose 14 percent to $1.13 billion from $986 million a year ago.

Total client assets rose 11 percent to $1.57 trillion. Schwab ended the year with nearly 8 million clients, up 4 percent from a year ago.

However, Schwab's pre–tax profit margin slipped to 20.3 percent from 27 percent in the year–ago quarter.

Excluding the charges, Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger said the company's pre–tax profit margin rose 9 percentage points compared with this year's first quarter. He attributed the improvement to revenue growth and cost controls.

The company reported a 12 percent increase in asset management and administration fees to $497 million in the latest quarter, compared with the same quarter a year ago. The gain was partly due to higher interest revenue.